Towel grip



l. J. LONDON July 14, 1953 TOWEL GRIP Filed Nov. 20, 194'? INVENTOR. ISREAL J. LONDON.

ATTORNEY- Patented July 14, 1953 TIOWEL GRIP Isreal J. London, Application November 20, 1947, Serial N o. 787,121

1 claim. (c1. al1- 7) This invention relates to a towel grip and relating to a TowelgGrip.

Heretofore and particularly in public places such as bowling alleys, for instance, hand towels are available for public use, and dueto ineffecrepresentinga considerable lossrtothe proprietor.

overcome this difficulty and eliminate such loss by incorporating within the towel holder an efsurfaces available for use. Y

It is the objectof this invention to provide a hollow towel holder for receiving an intermedito effectively retain the same within the towel holder.

It is the further object of this invention to provide a hollow towel holder having a throated opening adapted to receive a folded portionlof the towel, such as at `its central portion, together with iloating means within said holder retainingly associated with the folded portion of said towel and cooperable with said throated opening for frictionally retaining said towel with.. in said holder upon receipt of anoutward thrust `upon one of the ends thereof.

It is the 'further object of this invention to provide a towel grip within the towel holder releasable lockingengagement therewith at its other end. I t

These and other objects will be seen `from the following specification and claim in conjunction with the appended drawing in which: i

Figure 1 is a perspective viewshowing the towel grip as preferably mounted upon an upright "support, I i i t Itis the principal' object of `this invention to ings I3 in said base.

Detroit, Mich.

Figure 5 is an elevational section on line 5?-5` of Figure 1 Figure 6 is an elevational section on line 6-6 of Figure l, and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of ferring to the drawing the towel grip con- Re sists of substantially flat rectangular base II, which is attacliable to any suitable preferably upright support I2 by a plurality of screws not shown, which extendthrough transverse open- Said openings are preferably countersunk at I4 so that the screw heads will not project above the surface of base II to screw Openings I3.

The upper edge of base II is horizontally bevelled at I6 as shown in Figures 1, 4, 5 and 6 to cooperatively engage the horizontally bevelled or similarly shaped rear edge I 'I of the hollow cover I8 within which the towel isgripped in a manner hereafter set out.

` As shown in Figures l, 3 and 4, a boss I9 projects outwardly from one end of base II, beingv rounded at points 20, and is adapted to be co-v ment with respect to base II of which'said boss forms an integral part.

Referring to Figures 1,3, 4, and 6, the cover i Within the rear edge of the inclined cover ele-l ment 25, being positioned intermediate the parallel spaced boss formations 26 and 21 -in-saidV I cover. y n n Slot 29 in cooperation with the bottom longitudinal edge 3| of base II vthus defines an elon-Y gated throated opening for receiving the ends of thefolded portion of towel 30Yasr illustrated in Figure 5. i

The substantially triangularly Ashaped towel gripping element 32 preferably constructed of wood, isinitially positioned within the central fold or folded portion 33 of the towel, and with c over I8, hingedly open ispositioned within said cover in the portion thereof designated as towel gripping housing 28 `vFigure 3.

locked in the manner hereinafter described.

After insertion of this gripping element in the folded portion Grripping shaft 32, preferably of light weight,

isiloatinglypositioned within cover I8--28 with the folded portion 33 and the weight of the towel Hbearing1 down upon said shaft. As viewediri Figure 5, one of the longitudinal converging edges of grip 32 lies in substantially parallel bearing alignment with the inner surface of housing element 25,. while the corresponding other converging surface of said grip lies in substantial parallelbearing relation Vvwith the inner wall of base II adjacent slot 29.

The longitudinal apex 34 of grip 32 projects downwardly extending partially into the throated slot 29 as shown in Figure 5.

lin normal operation the grip 32 and the folded portion 33 of said towel assumes substantially the position shown in Figure 5, due to theweight o f saidgrip and the towel supported thereon. It is thus seen that portions of the towel are interposed between the converging wall portions II and 25 Yand the grip 32, so that the towel is normally and frictionally retained within cover Yoperation a downward thrust upon either `of the free Vends' of towel 30 will cause one of the longitudinal apexes 34 a downward movement Vrelative to the throated slot 29, bringing the Vconverging walls of the grip 32 into frictional and'wedging engagement with the converging wall portions 25 andV II corresponding thereto. ,The towel portions interposed between said wallsfand said grip are thus frictionally retained relatively thereto against longitudinal outward movement. A downward thrust upon either or both of thefree ends of the towel render Y the` grip 32 fully effective to restrain longitudinal movement of eitherof the ends. of said towel relative to housing or cover I8. The

VVgreater the downward thrust upon a towel end, thegreater will be the frictional locking effect to retain the towelwithin its holder.

,The grip 32 ispreferably of triangular cross section, however it is contemplated that any other polygonal shape may be employed, such as rectangular, wherein a pair of converging side walls of the grip would be adapted for cooperative frictional and wedging engagement with the corresponding converging members II and 25 forming a part of the towel grip or holder.

The grip shown fragmentarily in Figure 7 has a plurality of parallel longitudinal grooves 35 formed therein for increased gripping effect between the towel, the converging ledges of grip 32, and the converging walls in the interior of the towel grip adjacent slot 29.

If desired these longitudinal grooves may be eliminated as it has been found that the grip will give satisfactory results veven when their outer surfaces are flat.

A lock and latching means are employed as shown in Figures 3 and 6 for effectively securing the cover I8 in operatively closed position relatively to Yits base II.

A horizontal latch receiving slot 36 is formedl on the interior of cover I8 at one end thereof opposite from its pivoted end. A vertically arranged locking pin 31 is secured within the corresponding end portion of said cover and extends across slot 36, being substantially parallel to pivot pin 22.

Alatching device is carried upon the corresponding end of base II, being'adapted for cooperative retaining engagement with the lock-,

ing pin31 in slot 35 of said cover. Said latch mechanismV includes a vertically ar ranged supporting plate 38 mounted upon the:

recessed portion 39 of base II at its rear, and is secured thereto by bolts 40. n

Bifurcated latch housing 4I is uprightly mounted upon plate 33 and secured thereto by rivets 42. Said housing extends forwardly through thesiot 43 in the end of base I I, and has pivotally mounted thereon latch 44.

The latter is pivotally mounted on the rivet 45 which extends transversely through said housing and is adapted for locking retaining engagement with Vlocking pin 31 in hollow cover I8.

Coil spring' 46 is positioned within latch housing 4I with one end expansively bearing against the projection 41 of said latch normally maintaining the same in its locking position as shown in Figure 3.

Latch 44 has a cam surface 48 so as to cooperatively bear against locking pin 31 for forcing said latch temporarily to open position against the action of spring 46 as cover I8 is hingedly closed relative to base II. Once closed latch 44 is free to lockingly engage pin 31 in said cover.

A small circular key receiving slot 49 is formed inthe central portion of cover I8, and is adapted to slidably receive latch releasing key 50 as shown in Figure 3.

The inner end` of cylindrical key 50 is adapted for operative registry with the extension 5| on latch 44, for'effecting a pivotal releasing movement thereof against the action of spring 46.

vIn operation, key 50 is projected through slot 49 .in cover I8 releasing latch 44, and while so released the cover I8- may be normally opened outwardly upon its' pivot 22. The relative position of the base II to hollow cover I8 is shown by the dotted line indication of Figurev 3.

For towel replacement, it is seen that with cover IIB` opened, the dirty towel and its supporting grip element 32 will dropfrom said housing,

andthe clean towel withv a grip 32 inserted vadjacent its. central fold 33 repositioned withini',

cover I8. The new towel and grip are manually held within cover i8 as the same is hingedly closed relative to base I8, with the free ends of the towel extending loosely through the slot 29.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the claim which follows for determining the scope thereof.

I claim:

A towel grip comprising an upright rectangular base, a hollow elongated horizontally swingable housing pivotally mounted at one end upon one end of said base, said housing having a longi- 1 tudinally cutout portion along its lower edge adjacent to and cooperable with said base forming a horizontal slot therebetween adapted to receive the free ends of a towel folded within said housing, an elongated horizontally arranged gripping element loosely lying within said housing over which the folded portion of said towel is adapted to extend, said cutout portion being narrower than the Width of said gripping element in cross section, whereby said gripping element is 6 adapted to frictionally retain said towel Within said housing upon an outward thrust applied to one of the towel ends.

ISREAL J. LONDON.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 243,161 Ross June 21, 1881 517,325 Buch Mal. 27, 1894 833,909 Ashley Oct. 213, 1906 1,133,254 Backus Mar. 310, 1915 1,167,083 Kubicek Jan. 4, 1916 1,248,732 Shave et al. Dec. 4, 1917 1,395,287 Meszaros Nov. 1, 1921 1,417,009 Woodward May 23, 1922 1,638,547 Myers Aug. 9, 1927 1,662,255 VStuart et al. Mar. 13, 1928 1,805,789 .Stuart et a1. May 19, 1931 1,975,543 Giessler Oct. 2, 1934 2,465,057

Brandes Mar. 22, 1949 

